Method of forming tubular walls for product containers

ABSTRACT

A material and method of forming it into tubular wall structures for product dispensing tubes is described. The material is a continuous web which is printed on one side with a succession of two different advertisement messages it is desired to appear on two different dispensing tubes. Such messages are printed in alternately repeating sequence along the length of the material so that the material can be thought of as being divided lengthwise into repeating sections, each one of which includes both advertising messages. Each of such sections is generally twice as long as the outer circumference desired for the dispensing tube, with each portion having a different message thereon taking up one-half of the section so that each of such portions has a length generally equal to such desired outer circumference. The method includes the steps of separating one of such sections from the remainder of the material when it is desired to form a tubular structure for a dispensing tube. The removed section is then convolutely wound lengthwise into tubular form from its end opposite that end having the advertising message it is desired to appear on the exterior of the tube. Such section is wound through 720* to provide a double wrapping of such material with the desired message on the exposed, exterior surface of the finished tube and the other message covered over. Thus, dispensing tubes having either one of two different messages, as desired, can be produced from the same roll of web material.

United States Patent [191 Monia 1 Jan. 7, 1975 METHOD OF FORMING TUBULARWALLS FOR PRODUCT CONTAINERS [75] Inventor: Victor Monia, San Jose,Calif.

[73] Assignee: Guardian Packaging Corporation,

Newark, NJ.

22 Filed: Sept. 21, 1972 21 Appl. No.: 290,781

[52] US. Cl ..156/184,156/215, 156/277,

242/721, 156/187 [51] Int. Cl. B31c 5/00 [58] Field of Search 156/187,184, 194, 195,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,269,661 l/l942 Gurwick151/145 2,682,974 7/1954 Smith 156/194 Primary Examiner-Charles E. VanHorn Assistant Examiner-J. Massie Attorney, Agent, or Firm-C. MichaelZimmerman, Esq.

[57] ABSTRACT A material and method of forming it into tubular wallstructures for product dispensing tubes is described. The material is acontinuous web which is printed on one side with a succession of twodifferent advertisement messages it is desired to appear on twodifferent dispensing tubes. Such messages are printed in alternatelyrepeating sequence along the length of the material so that the materialcan be thought of as being divided lengthwise into repeating sections,each one of which includes both advertising messages. Each of suchsections is generally twice as long as the outer circumference desiredfor the dispensing tube, with each portion having a different messagethereon taking up one-half of the section so that each of such portionshas a length generally equal to such desired outer circumference. Themethod includes the steps of separating one of such sections from theremainder of the material when it is desired to form a tubular structurefor a dispensing tube. The removed section is then convolutely woundlengthwise into tubular form from its end opposite that end having theadvertising message it is desired to appear on the exterior of the tube.Such section is wound through 720 to provide a double wrappingof suchmaterial with the desired message on the exposed, exterior surface ofthe tinished tube and the other message covered over. Thus, dispensingtubes having either one of two different messages, as desired, can beproduced from the same roll of web material.

3 Claims, 8 Drawing Figures METHOD OF FORMING TUBULAR WALLS FOR PRODUCTCONTAINERS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates totubular walls for product containers and, more particularly, to theformation from a single sheet of material of a tubular structure havingany one of a plurality of different indicia on its exterior surface.

It is becoming increasingly common to make the tubular walls forcollapsible dispensing containers of the type used, for example, topackage toothpaste, from laminated sheet material. Most often, thelaminated material is supplied to the tube manufacturer as an elongated,continuous web of such material which is convolutely wound into a largeroll. The tubes are manufactured from the material by appropriatemachinery which unwinds the roll and slices the material, as needed,into appropriately sized portions which are then formed into the desiredtubes. Typically, the web of material is preprinted with whateveradvertising message and directions it is desired to appear on thetubular wall. The portions cut from the web for each of the tubes isthen appropriately chosen to properly place the advertising message andother indicia on the finally formed tubular structure.

Although in general it is easier and much more economical to preprint aweb of material as set forth above prior to it being formed into theindividual tubular structures, such method is not entirely satisfactory.For one thing, it is not unusual for a manufacturer of a product to wantto package the product in containers which are identical except forrelatively minor differences in the advertising message or other indiciawhich is applied to the container. For example, several large dentifricemanufacturers sell both plain and flavor containing dentifrices undersingle trademarks. Often this difference in products is reflected on thedentifrice tubes as only a color change and slightly different wordingin the advertising messages. Moreover, some manufacturers marketdentifrices and the like under several different trademarks, the use ofeach of which requires different printing on the separate containers.

It will be appreciated that if a tube manufacturer wishes to be in aposition to quickly respond to orders from a product manufacturer forcontainers having different messages, he must maintain in stock separaterolls of the web material having such different messages. Because theweb rolls are relatively large, the storage of very many different kindsrequires an appreciable amount of space. Thus, the necessity of keepinga plurality of rolls having the different messages respectively printedthereon adds to the expense of a tube manufacturers operation. It willalso be appreciated that the printing of different messages on theseparate rolls adds to the expense of manufacturing the laminated webmaterial, especially since the major cost of a printing operation is inthe set-up time for each individual printing run and the differentprinting cylinders which are required for each.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention enables differentlyprinted tubular structures for containers to be formed from the sameroll of web material, thus eliminating the necessity of a tubemanufacturer maintaining on hand separate web rolls for each tubularstructure for which he can expect an order. The present inventionaccomplishes this while at the same time reducing the overall expense ofprinting the messages on the web material. To these ends, the inventionincludes a sheet of material which has the different messages printed onit. and a method of forming tubular structures therefrom which resultsin the desired one of the messages appearing on the exterior surface ofthe finished tubular structure. The sheet of material includes a sectionfor each tube to be manufactured which has the different indiciamessages applied on one side surface of it in succeeding portions ofsuch section. Each differently printed portion of the section has alength which is generally equal to the outer circumference desired forthe final tubular structure.

The method of forming a tubular structure having the selected message onits exterior surface includes the steps of providing a sheet of materialand applying the different indicia messages on succeeding portions ofthe section as stated above. Such section is then separated from theremainder of the material in such a manner that the portion of thesection having the selected indicia is at one end of such section. Thesection is then convolutely wound lengthwise into the desired tubularform for the tubular structure, beginning from the end of it oppositethe end having the selected indicia. As a particularly salient featureof the method, the section is not only wound in a direction placing theindicia surface on the exterior side ofthe rolled form, but for a numberof wrappings generally equal to the number of the different message inthe section. The result is that the portion of the rolled section whichhas the desired message on it forms the exposed, exterior surface of thetubular structure, while the other portions of the section havingindicia are covered. Most desirably, the various wrappings of thesection forming the tubular structure are sealed together to provide thetubular structure with a unitary tubular wall.

It is recognized that the method of the invention requires a greaterlength of the material to be used for each individual tubular wall thanis used for a tubular wall formed by wrapping the material only through360 to form a single wrapping wall. However, the cost of this increasedmaterial length can be offset by the utilization of fewer plies or lessthick plies to make the material. That is, since the tubular wall willbe made up of a plurality of adjacent wrappings of the material, eachwrapping used need not be as thick. Moreover, it should be noted that inorder to minimize overlapped joint thickness, among other reasons, sometube manufacturers already utilize a double wrapping, i.e., a wrappingof the material through 720, in forming the tubular wall for collapsibledispensing tubes. The invention is particularly applicable for use bysuch manufacturers. Such a manufacturer can halve the number ofdifferently printed web rolls he must maintain in stock, merely byobtaining web rolls printed with two different messages in accordancewith the invention and adjusting his tube manufacturing equipment toseparate the material for each tube at the appropriate location so thatupon it being wound through 720, the selected indicia will be on theexposed, exterior surface of the finished tubular structure.

As mentioned previously, the cost of printing the different messages or,more broadly stated, indicia is also lowered by the invention. Moreparticularly, it will be recognized that only one set-up operation isrequired to print the different indicia on the same number of web rollswhich have been printed in the past with the different indicia.Moreover, since the printing cylinders and the like useable withonemessage may be the same as used for another, when the printing of thedifferent messages are combined, the total number of such rolls whichare required can be reduced.

The invention includes other features and advantages which will becomeapparent from the following more detailed description of a preferredembodiment.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING With reference to the accompanyingsingle sheet of drawing:

FIG. I is a perspective view of a collapsible dispensing container ofthe type for which the present invention is particularly applicable;

FIG. 2 is a partial and reduced in size perspective view of a roll ofweb material having two different indicia printed on succeeding portionsthereof;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a section of the material having the twodifferent indicia applied on succeeding portions thereof, which sectionhas been separated from the roll of web material in accordance with theinvention;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view illustrating the section of material ofFIG. 3 being convolutely wound into tubular form in accordance with theinvention to expose one of such indicia on its exterior surface;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of another section of the material havingthe two different indicia applied on succeeding portions thereof, whichsection has been separated from the roll of web material in accordancewith the invention;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view illustrating the section of material ofFIG. 5 being convolutely wound in accordance with the invention toexpose the other one of such indicia on its exterior surface;

FIG. 7 is a partial perspective view illustrating the formation of aunitary, tubular wall from a tubular form provided in accordance withthe invention; and

FIG. 8 is another partial perspective view of the tube forming equipmentopened to expose a finished tubular structure formed in accordance withthe invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT With reference to thedrawing, FIG. 11 illustrates a product container of the type to whichthe present invention is particularly applicable. Such container,generally referred to by the reference numeral 11, is a socalledcollapsible dispensing container, i.e., squeeze tube, of the type oftenused to package dentifrices, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. The tube 11includes a tubular wall structure 12 which is closed at one end 13 by,for example, having diametrically opposed sides of the tubular wall heatsealed together. Most often, such end is closed after the tube is filledwith the desired product. A head piece 14 closes the tube at its otherend and includes an exteriorly threaded neck portion over which issecured a cap 16. As will be recognized, a consumer removes a desiredamount of the product from the tube by removing the cap 16 and thensqueezing the tube to dispense such product out of the uncovered neckportion.

As discussed previously, more and more tubes of this type are beingmanufactured from laminated sheet material. The laminated materialgenerally includes at least one impermeable ply, such as of a metalfoil, to assure that the product remains completely separated from theatmosphere. The impermeable ply is generally sandwiched in the laminatebetween thermoplastic plies, such as plies of polyethylene. The labelingindicia it is desired to have on the dispensing tube. such asadvertising and direction messages, are then printed on one side of thelaminate and, most often, a protective ply is applied thereover.

The laminated material is generally made as a continuous web of materialwhich is convolutely would into a large roll to facilitate handling andstorage. Typically, the web has a width of about three feet and adiameter of about 1% feet. The labeling indicia for individual ones ofthe tubes is printed both width wise and lengthwise of the web. The webis then sliced longitudinally to provide elongated webs having aplurality of tubes printed in column fashion along the length of thematerial. Such individual webs are then supplied separately to a tubemaking machine which splices appropriate lengths of the material fromthe web and rolls it into the desired tube form with the printing on itsexterior.

As also discussed previously, it is common for a product manufacturer tomarket various ones of his products in identical tubes, except for theprinting. This has meant that tube manufacturers have had to maintain instock rolls of the tube material which differ from one another only inthe printing. The result is that a large inventory of web material mustbe kept on hand by the tube manufacturer if he wishes to be in aposition to promptly fill orders for tubes with differing messages.

The present invention enables the same web of material to be utilized toproduce tubular structures for dispensing tubes having any selected oneof a plurality of different messages. The invention accomplishes thiswhile at the same time reducing the overall printing cost. FIG. 2illustrates a portion of a roll, generally referred to by the referencenumeral 17, of continuous web material of a preferred embodiment of theinvention particularly adapted for the manufacture of tubes having tworespectively different messages applied thereto. As shown, one side ofthe material 18 from the roll 17 is printed with the two differentmessages in alternately repeating sequence along its length. That is,the web can be thought of as divided into a plurality of sections 19 or19, each of which includes two succeeding portions 21 and 22 (or 22 and21) having different messages printed thereon. For example, the messageon portion 21 is shown as one designed for a dispensing tube for a plaintoothpaste. In this connection, the message includes the word toothpasteand a dart which is denoted as having a red color. The message on theportion 22, on the other hand, is designed for a dispensing tube topackage toothpastes containing a special flavor. Such message is similarto that on the portion 21 except that it includes the additionallanguage flavored, and the dart is denoted as green in color.

The two different messages respectively on portions 21 and 22 of eachsection are printed simultaneously onto the web. More particularly, theprinting equipment is set up to print both at the same time, with theresult that certain ones of the printing cylinders and the like whichare applicable to both messages need only be provided one time. Thisreduces the overall cost of the printing operation.

It will be noted that the sections 19 and 19 denoted in the drawingoverlap one another, i.e., the portion 22 is common to both. Thus,insofar as the term section" is used herein, it is not to be construedas limited to discrete succeeding sections. It will also be noted fromthe phantom extension of the material included in FIG. 2, that each ofthe sections 19 and 19 is repeated widthwise of the web of material.However, most tube making equipment is only designed to handle a web ofmaterial of the width of the final tube, and thus the web is usuallydivided lengthwise into such widths prior to the tube manufacturingprocess.

For reasons which will be better understood hereinafter, each of thesections 19 and 19 is generally twice as long lengthwise of the webmaterial as the outer circumference desired for the final tubularstructure. Moreover, each of the portions 21 and 22 has a length in suchdirection which is equal to one-half of the length of the section, andthereby is equal in length to the circumference desired for the tube. Inthe manufac ture of a tube with the material of the invention, having,for example, the printing on portion 21 exposed, a section 19 ofthematerial is separated from the remainder of the material. FIG. 3illustrates such a removed section. As shown, this section is so removedfrom the material that the portion 21 thereof is at its right hand endas viewed, whereas the portion 22 thereof is at its left hand end. Toplace the section shown in FIG. 3 into tubular form with the message onportion 21 on the exterior, it is convolutely wound into such form fromthe end thereof opposite the end having such portion 21. FIG. 4illustrates the section being so convolutely wrapped. In keeping withthe invention, the section of material is wound through about 720 toprovide a double wrapping forming the tubular form. As can be seen fromFIG. 4, this will result in the portion 22 having the unwanted printingbeing covered over by the portion 21. However, because each of theportions 21 has a length generally equal to the outer circumferencedesired for the final tubular structure, the exterior circumference ofthe tube will not be affected by such double wrapping.

It should be noted that since the tubular form will have a doublewrapping of the material forming the tubular wall of the finaldispensing tube, the material need not be and, in fact, should not be,as thick as it would be if only a single wrapping of the material werebeing used to make the tube. Therefore, as mentioned before, even thougha greater length of material is required with use of the invention tomake a tubular structure, the thickness of the material is reduced tooffset this greater length.

FIGS. 5 and 6 illustrate the formation of a tubular form from thesection 19 so that the final tube will have the printing on portion 22exposed. In this case, the portion 22 is on the left hand end of thesection as viewed, whereas the portion 21 is now on the right hand end.Then, as can be seen from FIG. 6, upon the the desired printing will beon the exterior surface of such form.

It should be noted that although in this preferred embodiment, it iscontemplated that the tube making machinery will always wrap a sectionof the material from the same end, i.e., the left hand end of thesections 19 and 19, the invention is also applicable to equipmentcapable of wrapping a section into the tubular form from either of itsends. With such equipment, it becomes unnecessary to choose differentsections 19 and 19 in order to obtain the desired portions 21 and 22 onthe exterior of the tube. That is, the one section 19, for example, canbe wrapped from either its left or right hand end to respectivelyprovide the portions 22 and 21 on the exterior of the tubular form.

After the selected tubular form represented by FIGS. 4 and 6 isgenerated, the resulting double wrappings are fused together to providethe tubular structure with a unitary tubular wall. More particularly, asmentioned previously, at least one, if not both, ofthe sides of sheet ofmaterial 18 has an exterior ply of a heat sealable material, such as ofpolyethylene. This enables the double wrapping to be fused together withheat and pressure. FIG. 7 schematically illustrates apparatus for doingso. A tubular heating cylinder 26 is shown in surrounding relationshipto the double wrapped material. The heating cylinder 26 is defined bytwo semi-cylindrical tubular halves 27 and 28 made from a heatconductive material, such as of a metal. Each of such halves is providedwith electrical heating coils 29 distributed over its outer surface.With this construction, the heat generated in the coils 29 will beconducted by the cylinder to the double wrapping of material.

As is conventional, pressure is applied to the double wrapping while itis heated via a balloon mandrel, the end 31 thereof being illustrated atthe end of the cylinder 26. Such mandrel is made of a flexible, elasticmaterial, and air or other gas is introduced therein to radially expandthe same and thus apply pressure to the material being double wrappedfrom the end thereof double wrapping by compressing it against the innerwall of the heating cylinder 26. Thus, heat and pressure is appliedsimultaneously to the material to fuse the double wrappings together andprovide the desired unitary tubular structure. FIG. 8 illustrates theapparatus with both the mandrel and the upper heating cylinder half 27removed to expose the final tubular structure.

Although the invention has been described in connection with a preferredembodiment of the material and method, it will be appreciated by thoseskilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be madewithout departing from the spirit of the invention. For one thing, theinvention is equally applicable to material provided in forms other thanin a web roll. Moreover, the invention is not limited to use with justlaminated material, but is also applicable to single plies. And althoughboth the material and method have been described in contemplation of itrequiring a full outside wrap to cover the unwanted printing, it will beappreciated that depending on the placement of such printing, less thana full wrap will cover it. Thus, when the number of wrappings and thelengths of the sections and printed portions are specified in thespecification and claims, it will be recognized that these criteria areonly general criteria in keeping with the purposes of the invention.

In view of these and other changes, it is intended that the coverageafforded applicant be limited only by the terms of the claims and theirequivalents.

I claim:

1. A method of forming from a single sheet of material, a plurality oftubular structures, each of a predetermined outer circumference havingonly a selected one of a plurality of different messages on its exteriorsurface, comprising the steps of: providing an indefinite length web ofan opaque sheet material; applying a plurality of different messages onone side surface of said material in an indefinite length repeat patternwith each message being spaced from the next message along the length ofsaid web a distance substantially equal to said outer circumferencedesired for said tubular structure; separating a first section of saidweb having a length equal to a predetermined whole number (other thanone) multiple of the distance between said messages from the remainderof said web with said one side surface portion thereof having a firstselected one of said plurality of messages at one end of said firstsection, and convolutely winding said first section lengthwise intotubular form from the end of said first section opposite from said oneend having said selected message in a direction placing said one sidesurface thereof on the exterior side of the rolled form and for a numberof wrappings generally equal to the number of messages on said firstsection to thereby form a first tubular structure with said selected oneof said plurality of messages on the exposed exterior surface thereofand remaining messages of said first section being hidden from view bythe outer wrapping; separating a second section of said web having alength equal to a predetermined whole number (other than one) multipleof the distance between said messages from the remainder of said webwith said one side surface portion thereof having a second selected oneof said plurality of messages different from said first selected messageat the one end of said section corresponding to said one end of saidfirst section and convolutely winding said second section lengthwiseinto tubular form from the end of said second section opposite from saidone end having said selected second message in a direction placing saidone side surface thereof on the exterior side of the rolled form and anumber of wrappings generally equal to the number of different messageson said second section to thereby form a second tubular structure withsaid selected second message on the exposed exterior surface thereof andthe remaining messages of said second section being hidden from view bythe outer wrapping.

2. The method of claim 1 for forming a plurality of tubular structures,each having one ofa plurality ofdifferent indicia message on itsexterior surface wherein there are two of said different indiciamessage, said section of material which is provided is generally twiceas long as the outer circumference desired for the tubular structure,and said section is convolutely wound through about 720 to provide adouble wrapping of said material forming said tubular structure with thedesired one of said plurality of indicia message on the exposed,exterior surface thereof.

3. The method of claim 1 for forming a plurality of tubular structures,each having one of a plurality of different indicia messages on itsexterior surface wherein one side of the sheet of material section whichis provided is heat sealable to the opposite side thereof, and furtherincluding the step of heat sealing together adjacent windings of saidtubular form resulting from convolutely winding said section to providesaid tubular structure with a unitary tubular wall.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No.5,859,15L" Dated January 7 975 Inventor(s) ViC'bOI" Monia It iscertified that error appears in the above-identified patent and thatsaid Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

On the Title page, in item "Newark, N. J."

should read Newark, California read messages Signed and sealed this 1stday of April 1975.

Attest:

C. I-LARSEALL DANN Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks RUTH C. I'IASOI? Attesting Officer FORM PO-1050 (10-69) USCOMM-DC 60376-PO9 U45,GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 869- 930

1. A method of forming from a single sheet of material, a plurality oftubular structures, each of a predetermined outer circumference havingonly a selected one of a plurality of different messages on its exteriorsurface, comprising the steps of: providing an indefinite length web ofan opaque sheet material; applying a plurality of different messages onone side surface of said material in an indefinite length repeat patternwith each message being spaced from the next message along the length ofsaid web a distance substantially equal to said outer circumferencedesired for said tubular structure; separating a first section of saidweb having a length equal to a predetermined whole number (other thanone) multiple of the distance between said messages from the remainderof said web with said one side surface portion thereof having a firstselected one of said plurality of messages at one end of said firstsection, and convolutely winding said first section lengthwise intotubular form from the end of said first section opposite from said oneend having said selected message in a direction placing said one sidesurface thEreof on the exterior side of the rolled form and for a numberof wrappings generally equal to the number of messages on said firstsection to thereby form a first tubular structure with said selected oneof said plurality of messages on the exposed exterior surface thereofand remaining messages of said first section being hidden from view bythe outer wrapping; separating a second section of said web having alength equal to a predetermined whole number (other than one) multipleof the distance between said messages from the remainder of said webwith said one side surface portion thereof having a second selected oneof said plurality of messages different from said first selected messageat the one end of said section corresponding to said one end of saidfirst section and convolutely winding said second section lengthwiseinto tubular form from the end of said second section opposite from saidone end having said selected second message in a direction placing saidone side surface thereof on the exterior side of the rolled form and anumber of wrappings generally equal to the number of different messageson said second section to thereby form a second tubular structure withsaid selected second message on the exposed exterior surface thereof andthe remaining messages of said second section being hidden from view bythe outer wrapping.
 2. The method of claim 1 for forming a plurality oftubular structures, each having one of a plurality of different indiciamessage on its exterior surface wherein there are two of said differentindicia message, said section of material which is provided is generallytwice as long as the outer circumference desired for the tubularstructure, and said section is convolutely wound through about 720* toprovide a double wrapping of said material forming said tubularstructure with the desired one of said plurality of indicia message onthe exposed, exterior surface thereof.
 3. The method of claim 1 forforming a plurality of tubular structures, each having one of aplurality of different indicia messages on its exterior surface whereinone side of the sheet of material section which is provided is heatsealable to the opposite side thereof, and further including the step ofheat sealing together adjacent windings of said tubular form resultingfrom convolutely winding said section to provide said tubular structurewith a unitary tubular wall.